Current View of 1675 Westchester Avenue. Image Credit: Google Maps

The City Planning Commission approved the development of a new 13-story building in Bronx River with 220 affordable housing units and retail space. On August 23, 2017, the New York City Planning Commission issued a favorable report on an application from the 1675 JV Associates, LLC for a zoning map and text amendment. The zoning map amendment will change the current residential district (R6) into a mixed-use district (R8A/C2-4), and the text amendment will establish a Mandatory Inclusionary Housing area on the project site.

The site is currently home to a vacant one-story building, which the borough president described as a “community liability.” The rezoning will permit the development of a new, 13-story building with 220 housing units, 7,570 square feet of retail space, and 6,845 square feet of community facility space. The new building’s residents will enjoy a fitness center, a community room, a computer room, a children’s play room adjacent to a laundry room, an exterior terrace, a garden, and a 24-hour doorman and cameras for security. All 220 units will be affordable—available to households with an Average Median Income ranging from 30% to 100%. While the applicant intends to maintain all units as affordable, the proposed zoning text amendment would ensure that at least 30% of the units (66 units) will be permanently affordable under Option 2 for Mandatory Inclusionary Housing.
(more…)

Westchester Avenue Bridge, January 2015. Image credit: Yelp

City Planning approved the raising of the Westchester Avenue Bridge to prevent future truck collisions. On September 6, 2017, the City Planning Commission issued a report approving a City Map amendment to facilitate the raising of a Bronx bridge. The Westchester Avenue Bridge is the most struck bridge in the City. In 2014 it was struck eighteen times, and in 2015 and 2016 it was struck thirteen times. Most of the strikes have been by errant trucks entering the parkway. (more…)